Habanero Hot Pepper

(90 days) Capsicum frutescens Open-pollinated. A Scotch Bonnet–type infamous for its extreme heat, fiery Habanero registers a blistering 200,000–325,000 Scoville units, depending on how hot the growing season, 30–80 times as hot as Early Jalapeño! Each 1½' plant will set 10–20 pendulous fruits that turn from dark green to tangerine as they mature. Fruits are somewhat wrinkled from stem to tip. Their distinctive flavor makes them a key ingredient in West Indian jerk sauce. We recommend greenhouse culture for the northern third of our sales area where frequent nighttime temperatures below 70° make outdoor production iffy. ②

Additional Information

Hot Peppers

Hybrid pepper seed is expensive so A-size packets are modest. 0.1g packets contain 10-20 seeds. We pack by weight and not by seed count so there will be variation.

Chiles have been consumed in Mexico for more than 5,000 years. In the U.S. hot peppers have increased dramatically in popularity.

Capsaicin compounds cause most of the heat in peppers. Warm nighttime temperatures stimulate maximum development of capsaicins and increase pungency levels. Pungency is expressed in Scoville units, after Wilbur Scoville, an Englishman who devised the method used for eighty years to measure the heat in peppers.

If you overdose on hot peppers, plain carbs like bread, rice or tortillas are better than any liquid at removing the heat from your mouth. Handle hot peppers with caution; capsaicin is highly alkaloid and can burn skin.

Peppers

Capsicum annuum

For all peppers, days to full-color maturity are from transplanting date.

~160 seeds/g. Capsicum comes from the Greek kapto which means ‘bite.’

Culture: Very tender, will not tolerate frost, dislike wind, will not set fruit in cold or extremely hot temperatures or in drought conditions. Start indoors in March or April. Set out in June. Black plastic highly recommended. Row cover improves fruit set in windy spots. Pick first green peppers when they reach full size to increase total yield significantly. Green peppers, though edible, are not ripe. Peppers ripen to red, yellow, orange, etc.

Seed-saving tips: Use only the first fruits for seed; allow only 3–4 fruits per plant to grow and remove all others. Fewer fruits = larger seeds = greater seed viability. Later fruits often have germination rates of only 60%.